This invention relates to interactive television program guides, and more particularly, to television program guides that support a video window function which may be used when browsing for available television programs. A television program, a program guide display and a program guide video window may be displayed on the display screen at the same time.
For a number of years certain television receivers have been equipped with a picture-in-picture (PIP) capability. In PIP mode, images of one television channel are displayed in the background while a PIP video window containing images of another channel is overlaid on a small area of the background. This feature allows viewers to simultaneously view video of programs being broadcast on two different channels. Television receivers with this capability typically contain two dedicated video tuners, one for the PIP window and one for the background screen. Viewers may enter and exit PIP mode by using specified keys on a remote control unit.
Television program guides help television viewers to select programs of interest. Viewers have traditionally consulted printed television program schedules to determine programs being broadcast at a particular time. Recently, cable, satellite, and broadcast television systems have provided viewers with an increasingly large number of television channels to choose from. As the number of potential programs of interest to the viewer has increased, interactive electronic program guides have been developed to help viewers determine which programs may be of particular interest. Such interactive program guides may be implemented using a microprocessor-controlled set-top box that is coupled to the viewer's television set. The set-top boxes receive program information from a central broadcasting center. Program information is stored in a memory within the set-top box. This information typically includes program titles, broadcast times, channels, program descriptions, etc.
Viewers can enter the “browse mode” of a program guide and use remote control cursor keys to scan through a list of available programming while still watching television. Once a program of interest has been located, the viewer can use a remote control to command the set-top box to tune to the displayed program listing.
Interactive programs guides may be arranged in a variety of formats. Some program guides display programming information as an overlay on top of a television channel. This type of arrangement does not allow viewers to browse video of other channels while continuing to view the video of a program in progress. Moreover, if the viewer is interested in video of a certain program listed on the program guide, he or she must first exit the program guide and then tune to that channel by pressing a select key.
Other program guides display a grid of current program listings on the viewer's display screen as an overlay on top of a television channel. As described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 09/054,917, filed Apr. 2, 1998, the viewer may scroll a highlight region through the program listings while monitoring the program to which the system is tuned in a quarter-screen window. A text description of the highlighted program is also provided. This type of program guide covers the entire television screen and does not allow the viewer to watch video of two channels concurrently.
It is therefore an object of the present invention to provide a program guide system with improved browsing capabilities.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a program guide system that interacts with a video window so that a viewer may simultaneously view video from two different television channels.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a program guide system that allows a viewer to view both information about and video of a program to be shown at a future time.
It is further object of the present invention to provide a program guide system which allows a viewer to swap television programs back and forth between a program shown in a program guide video window and a program shown on a main video screen without having to exit the program guide.
It is yet another object of the present invention to provide a program guide system which allows a viewer to the switch audio signal broadcast by a television back and forth between a program shown on a program guide video window and a program shown on a background screen without having to exit the program guide.